Right-wing radio show host Rush Limbaugh hasn’t exactly made it a secret that he’s an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, but on his program Monday he appeared over the moon that Trump had managed to avoid paying his federal income taxes for years. Then he chided The New York Times [1] for “using this tax information to sway an election,” Media Matters for America [2] reports.
Limbaugh is so firmly in Trump’s corner that he’s doing whatever he can to support him. Even if that means asserting [3] Joe Biden’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention wasn’t live and was instead edited and taped for broadcast. Even though ABC News noted [4] at least three-dozen journalists witnessed the speech. He’s tried to wreck Kamala Harris’s credibility by calling [5] her a “mattress” and a “hoe.” Because when you’re Rush Limbaugh you just can’t go too low.
And he was on the bottom rung Monday in his criticism of the Times bombshell report.
“They keep recycling things,” he said. “Now we’re recycling Trump’s taxes, and they got him again, folks. They got him again. They thought they had him four years ago on this. They thought they had him three years ago on this. We can go back and look at the audio sound bytes as we used them then. Not necessary, but they thought they had him. Now they think they’ve got him again. This is — by the way, folks, isn’t the New York Times using this tax information to sway an election? Well, isn’t that illegal? Isn’t that meddling in an election? Isn’t that what The New York Times — what’s the difference in this and whatever they alleged that the Russians were doing in 2016?”
Limbaugh thinks it’s admirable that Trump (allegedly) manipulated his taxes.
“The main thing that Trump did — looking at this, the main thing that Trump is doing is putting more money into his businesses than he’s taking out,” Limbaugh told his audience. “And who knows. It may be wise or legal, he’s chosen to do it this way. One thing, he’s an expert at moving money around to avoid paying taxes, and he’s really an expert at making those who loan money as vulnerable as he is. They can’t call the loans on him. They’d go down the tubes if he does. So he’s a master at this.”
He also praises Trump as a “master of using the tax code legally,” and later states it’s on the IRS to go after someone if the agency finds something fishy.
“And they do it if they think that somebody’s gaming the system or that they can get money out of them,” Limbaugh said. “And they haven’t done it with Trump yet. So now Trump is gonna be forced to explain all this tax stuff? Shouldn’t there be some outrage directed at Congress and the guy who’s been in government for 47 years, Joe Biden, for creating a tax code like this that smart citizens simply go out and hire the smartest other citizens they can find to use it to their greatest benefit?”
Welp here’s two facts about Rush’s comments above: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris released [6] their tax returns just hours before tonight’s debate. And even before the Times released its’ report, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance have been investigating Trump and his companies for over a year, and Vance has gone all the way to the Supreme Court in an effort to obtain Trump’s tax returns, The Democrat & Chronicle [7] reports.
Which the Times has now made easier.
Here’s a clip of Limbaugh’s nonsense below.
Rush Limbaugh celebrates Trump's tax avoidance: "He's a master at this" https://t.co/5qIZtBrNCd [8] pic.twitter.com/nothFpirRe [9]
— Media Matters (@mmfa) September 28, 2020 [10]